Little Boy Lost
by Grykon
Summary: Continuing the Uncivil War series, 3x04. Ralph's friend goes missing and Walter is still convalescing. AU 50 One Shot. Characters belong to their copyright holder(s). AU 50.003


**Continuing the Uncivil War series 3x04 'Little Boy Lost'. Italicized dialogue is from the show itself.**

**To the Adventure! -Tim**

* * *

Paige sent the files Walter had sent her to the printer and walked over and retrieved them before walking over and sitting in the chair beside his desk.

Walter smiled at first as he looked into her eyes, and slowly the smile faded to a neutral expression, "Am I in trouble?"

Paige shook her head as she spoke softly, "Walter, while I commend you on improving on your evaluations of the team over last year they are still, lacking, in the comments section. Are you sure you want to leave it the same for everyone? 'Thank you for being a positive, contributing member of the team.' It's a nice sentiment but it's still so generic and doesn't really take the individual's contributions into account nor does it express your actual feelings about them."

Walter looked at the top sheet and studied it. "I see what you are saying but I was trying to find a middle ground between efficiency and informative as you have stated I should be."

Paige smiled, "And that's why I say it's an improvement over last two years. But these are read by people who are able to see and express emotions and that's the audience you have to write for, not to mention that everyone loves to hear how they are truly valued."

Walter nodded, "Perhaps after dinner tonight while Ralph is working on his homework you can sit down with me and help me make them better?"

Paige smiled, "It would be my pleasure." As she stood up she stopped, "By the way you forgot mine."

Walter smiled, "Sorry, somehow I didn't get it selected when I attached the others to the email you should have it now."

Paige walked over and sat down and saw she did have another email; mostly she just wanted to delete it until after she helped him with the others and he could rewrite hers, but she figured she'd better print it out to help him with it. How weird it was going to be to sit and help him write her own review. She opened the email and sent the file to the printer.

Walter watched as she walked over and pulled the review out of the printer and saw her stop as she looked down at the comments section: "Ms Dineen has excelled at her job over the last two years. She has grown and taken on more and more responsibility in addition to continuing the support I need in order to interact with those who don't understand my directness and lack of tack. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Scorpion simply would not exist in its current state without her. As well as lately having to divert more time and energy into helping me convalesce from my recent injuries." At first he was concerned when he saw a tear in her eye but then saw a smile forming on her lips and he quickly looked down at his laptop as if he hadn't been watching.

Paige walked back behind him and reached down and unlocked the brakes on the wheelchair and pulled him out from under his desk and stepped around and sat down in his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. When she broke the kiss he smiled as she smiled at him, "Thank you." She told him softly.

"I meant every word," Walter told her as he kissed her.

Toby cleared his throat and tapped his watch, "I don't think its miller time yet."

Paige smiled at Walter and stood up and walked over to her desk.

* * *

Paige looked at her watch and stood up from her desk, "Baby, I got to go pick up Ralph from the class trip to the museum."

Walter smiled, "Okay, be careful, I love you."

"You mind if I tag along Paige?" Happy asked wanting to get away from Toby for a while.

Paige looked surprised but shook her head. She saw the calendar blotter on her desk as she grabbed her purse. "Your therapists should be here in about ten minutes, damn it I wanted to be here for that." Paige swore.

"I think I'll be fine for one appointment love." Walter told her as he rolled out from his desk and kissed her.

"Cabe, Sly, Toby, I'm leaving you in charge, you watch out for Walter, make sure he doesn't try to over do it or give the therapists a hard time." Paige told them as she left with Happy.

* * *

Walter was rather put off, the therapists that showed up didn't inspire any form of confidence, their scrubs were actually wrinkled, seemed to have some stains on them and their hair looked greasy. As they got close enough they had a noticeable odor he particularly didn't care for.

Walter would admit he was being a little resistant to the physical therapists that had to take over for his normal therapists today. Because for whatever reason they kept pushing him past his endurance, ignoring his complaints, warnings and signs that his muscles were trembling with fatigue and as a result he fell and unable to get his arms out fast enough caught his right cheek on the toe of one of the therapists' shoes. "Walter," Cabe called out, dropping his coffee mug on the floor as he came running out of the kitchen, the mug shattered and coffee ran everywhere and he shoved the therapist out of his way. Cabe glared at them as he knelt down, "You okay son?"

Walter nodded, "I need help up Cabe, my wheelchair." Walter was breathing heavily.

Cabe looked at the two men, "What is wrong with you?" He yelled at them.

"If Walter isn't going to try we're just going to have to fill out his sheet as non compliant and he can go to the rehab facility." The therapist whose foot he landed on said.

"What are you talking about; he's been busting his ass doing what you told him for the last twenty minutes. Sly get over here. Both of you get your stuff and get the hell out of here. I'll be filing grievances with your employer after I get Walter checked out to be sure he isn't really hurt." Cabe told him.

"Don't be a drama queen, he's fine." The man got snotty.

Cabe gently rolled Walter onto his side and they could see the black eye he had forming. "Does this look fine?" He roared.

Hearing Cabe yelling Sylvester came running up from the back of the Garage, "Cabe! What happened?" He pulled Walter's wheelchair over and helped Cabe to get Walter up and into it.

"Frick and Frack here stressed him out and let him fall. Didn't even put his gait belt on," Cabe told him.

Sylvester's eyes widened as he saw Walter's eye, "Oh man, Paige is going to hit the roof when she gets back with Happy and Ralph."

"I thought I told you get the hell out of here?" Cabe continued to glare at the two men.

"Hey Cabe, they didn't have the normal beef jerky you like so I got you the teriyaki, I hope that's okay," Toby said as he walked in the front door.

He saw Walter in his chair with his eye swelling, "What the hell happened?" He yelled. He saw Cabe glaring at the two therapists as he ran over.

"They let Walter fall, didn't even try to stop him." Sylvester told him as Toby knelt down next to Walter.

"You okay big brain?" Toby asked as he gently pressed against his cheek.

"Just need some rest and got to get my breath back." Walter told him. Both Cabe and Toby began yelling and berating the therapists.

* * *

Walter's phone rang. Pushing his chair a little away from them he pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw the screen had cracked when he fell. He saw it was Paige and he hit answer. "Hey love," Walter greeted her.

"Walter we got a problem here at the museum. I know it isn't Scorpion's normal type of case but an autistic boy is missing. Baby, he's a friend of Ralph's and he's really worried about him." Paige told him. She heard Cabe and Toby yelling.

"Paige, your project manager you have full authority to direct our assets. You don't need my permission." Walter reminded her.

"What's wrong? Why are Cabe and Toby yelling at each other?" Paige asked.

"It's okay, just an accident. Has LAPD's autistic response team been called?" Walter asked.

"Yes but there isn't much they can do besides a street level search. Daniel doesn't have a tracker." Paige told him.

Walter turned his head back at Cabe and he cried out, the fall had wrenched his neck again. "What was that? Was that you baby? Why did you cry out?" Paige demanded.

"Cabe, Toby, that's enough we got a case." Walter said through the pain. "It's not important right now love, Cabe and I will head that way."

"Wait, what's that Ralph? Here you tell Walter directly so I don't get it wrong." Paige told him.

"Walter, I saw Daniel's device ID, I think we could track it." Ralph told him.

Walter switched to speaker phone, "Good job Ralph, Sly, get this number and see if you can track it, Ralph's friend Daniel is lost and autistic, every second counts."

Ralph recited the number, "Good job Ralph, now let me speak to your Mom please."

"Paige, Cabe and I will head that way now. Is Daniel's Mom with you?" Walter asked as Cabe began pushing him towards the front door.

"Yes, she's right here." Paige told him.

"Okay, so we don't start getting a lot of mixed signals, bring her and Ralph back to the Garage. Toby, we might need you so you make sure you stay here to help feed us information. Sly do your best and track Daniel's tablet. I love you Paige." Walter told her.

"Love you baby," Paige told him as she hung up.

* * *

As they got into Paige's car, "Did Walter seem strained to you Mom?" Ralph Asked.

Paige looked back, "What do you mean baby?"

"His voice, the timbre didn't sound right, like he was in a lot of pain but trying to hide it." Ralph told her.

Anger rose up in Paige as she hit a button on her steering wheel, "Call Sylvester."

"Hey Paige, still trying to trace Daniel's tablet," Sylvester told her.

"What's going on with Walter?" Paige demanded.

"Wha-What do you mean? He's on the way to the museum with Cabe." Sylvester grew nervous as he looked at Toby who was busy waving his arms trying to flag him off like a plane.

"You know damn well what I mean Sly," her voice got threatening.

Sylvester swallowed, "How do you scare me on the phone?"

"Sly, I swear to God if you don't spill now I'm going to shove your Super Fun Guy comics into the industrial shredder when I get there." Paige yelled.

"Okay, okay, the regular therapists couldn't make it so they sent a couple of temps and they let Walter fall and he might have gotten a little banged up." Sylvester told her as he grimaced.

"They let him do what?! What the hell Sylvester, where were you and Cabe, you were suppose to be watching over them." Paige screamed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was in the bathroom and Cabe was in the kitchen." Sylvester told her.

Happy yelled, "Well then, where the hell was Toby?"

Toby waved his arms again.

"He'd run to the corner store for some gedunk." Sylvester answered.

"Oh, boy; thanks for throwing me under the bus Sly." Toby told him.

"We can't trust you knuckleheads for anything can we?" Happy demanded.

"Wait, I think I have located Daniel's tablet," Sylvester told them. "It's still in the museum and moving slowly towards the parking garage."

Happy pulled out her phone and called Toby, "Hello my little spicy Asian roll."

"Eww, gross," Ralph said from next to her in the backseat.

"I agree Ralph, gross." Happy told him. "Why weren't you there watching over Walt?"

"What did I do to deserve an ass chewing?" Toby asked.

"You left the Garage and Walter got hurt, we left the three of you bozos in charge and you failed spectacularly." Happy screamed.

Paige hung up on Sylvester and hit the button on her steering wheel again, "Call Cabe."

"Gallo," Cabe answered his phone.

"Damn it Cabe, how could you let Walter get hurt?" Paige yelled as he answered.

"Love, I'm okay. Right now it's Daniel we got to concentrate on." Walter called out.

"Fine, I'll table this ass chewing for the time being." Paige finally said.

* * *

Paige pulled up outside of the Garage a few minutes later and they hurried inside. Sylvester tried to hide in the kitchen as they came in.

"Sly, I got an idea to search for Daniel but I need your help," Ralph called out as he made his way to the monitor tree.

Sylvester stuck his head out, "Oh, welcome back guys." Sylvester hurried out and over to Ralph. "What are you thinking?" Trying to keep as much distance between Paige and himself.

Happy walked over and kicked the bottom of Toby's shoes as he pretended to be reading a book on the couch with his feet on the coffee table. Toby looked over the top of his book, "I love you."

Happy growled and emulated strangling him and walked over to watch Sylvester and Ralph.

"I'm thinking we could use kinetics to analysis Daniel's walk and we can track him through the camera system." Ralph told him as he hacked into the museum's security system.

"Good idea Ralph, all we would need to do is find him walking by a known object and input the data and my computer program can calculate his data and we can search for him to see where he is in the museum." Sylvester told him.

"There he is walking by that car." Ralph told Sylvester.

"Excellent, Happy, can you give me the data for that car?" Sylvester asked.

Happy rattled off the dimensions and Sylvester quickly plugged them into his computer program and it began searching through the museum footage.

Toby called Cabe, "Hey Cabe according to Sly's trace, Daniel's tablet is inside the parking garage now, second level."

Cabe pulled up outside of the garage, looking at a back log of cars trying to enter, and he jumped out, "Walt, I'm going on in on foot, try and get through this mess and meet me up there."

Walter carefully moved over to the driver's seat, "Umm, buddy, you know you weren't released to drive yet right?" Toby whispered quietly.

"If you want to keep your job you better shut up." Walter told him.

Paige looked up and over at Toby, "What are you whispering about?"

Toby shook his head, "Nothing just trying not to disturb Ralph and Sly."

* * *

"Oh boy, Daniel put his tablet down and that man picked it up and left with it. And now that other man is walking up and putting another tablet on the floor." Sylvester pointed.

"Not good," Happy said.

"Hey Walter, you guys are not tracking Daniel, your tracking the guy who took Daniel's tablet." Toby told Walter over the phone.

"Copy that." Walter answered as he entered the garage driving the SUV.

"Look, Daniel picked up the other tablet by mistake." Ralph exclaimed.

* * *

"Cabe's being attacked by two men," Walter said over the phone. Walter hit the gas and drove head on and blew the horn, Cabe dove to the side and one of the men ran off and as Walter tried to stop the toe of his foot got stuck under the brake and his heel hit the gas and he sped up and hit the other man knocking him down just as he freed his foot and applied the brake properly. Walter looked over at Cabe, "Cabe?" He popped open the door and struggled to get out and hobbled over leaning on the car next to Cabe to help him to stand with pain shooting up his back.

"Kid, what are you doing, get back in the car now." Cabe grew angry at him. They saw the man Walter had knocked down had run off.

Walter struggled with Cabe's help to get back into the passenger seat. Cabe jumped into the driver's seat and smacked the steering wheel with his hand.

"We got a problem, I got a look at one of the men and he had a tattoo that marks him as a member of S6." Cabe told Walter.

"What's that mean?" They heard Daniel's mother ask from the background over the phone.

"Jill, we need to find Daniel, you're his Mother, what helps to calm him, where would he go?" Toby asked.

Jill wrung her hands, "Trains? Something about the predictive clickety-click soothes him."

"We're not far from the train station, we should head there Cabe." Walter said through clenched teeth.

"Walter, what's wrong baby?" Paige asked worriedly.

"Just experiencing some pain love," Walter told her as Cabe gave him an eyeful.

"The train station is going to be packed; it's going to be difficult to find Daniel." Walter said as Cabe took off for the station.

"Sylvester and I measured Daniel's kinetics Walter; we can hack the security cameras and search for him." Ralph called out.

"Excellent idea Ralph, I'm proud of you. I want you to do the hack, and perform the search, Toby, Sly meet us at the station, let's get on coms, we're going to need all the help we can get to search for him." Walter told them. "Paige I need to speak privately to you, call my phone."

* * *

Paige pulled out her phone and called Walter.

"Love," Walter answered, "Daniel's Mother is going to need you to help her stay calm that's why I didn't ask for you to come. Also I need to tell you I really hurt myself when I fell at the Garage with the therapists. I may have hurt myself a little more trying to help Cabe when he was attacked a few minutes ago."

Tears welled up in Paige's eyes, "What happened?"

"The therapists kept pushing me, threatening to list me as non-compliant and wouldn't listen to me when I told them I was getting too weak and they just let me fall. I just didn't want to lie to you." Walter told her.

"I appreciate that but I'd rather you were here where you wouldn't be getting hurt more." Paige told him.

Walter smiled, "I never cared for people worrying over me, and I think I am beginning to like it when you do."

Paige smiled.

"Oh, I got to get a new phone, my screen cracked when I fell at the Garage too. I'm putting my coms in now love." Walter told her as he hung up and inserted his coms. Cabe followed suit. "Is everyone on coms now," Walter asked.

Everyone reported back that they were.

* * *

Cabe pulled up in front of the train station and got Walter's wheelchair out and helped him get into it. Cabe looked at the sweat on his brow and whispered, "Kid, are you okay?"

Walter gave him a waning smile and nodded his head.

Cabe pushed him inside the doors, "Ralph found him, he's on tract 12." Paige told them.

"Well done Ralph," Walter said.

Paige smiled at Ralph, "Walter said well done."

Ralph grinned.

Cabe pushed Walter quickly through the station yelling for people to gang way as they moved to track 12. Cabe pushed Walter close to the front door of the train and parked his chair and locked the brakes. "You wait here for me and don't get out of this chair." Cabe told him.

A few moments after Cabe walked inside the train checking for Daniel a man stepped around Walter and got on the train, "Cabe, the man I hit with the SUV, he just boarded the train, behind you." Walter told him over the coms.

"Copy that," Cabe responded and stepped between two of the cars and moved to the side. As the man stepped between the cars Cabe slugged him and he dropped his gun and he struggled with Cabe. Kneeing Cabe in the stomach he took off running and Cabe picked up the man's gun but he was already off the train and running for the concourse.

Cabe left the train carrying the gun, and he put his phone up smiling as he saw for once Walter had listened and stayed in his chair.

Toby and Sylvester came running up. "Good, you guys stay with Walter and really watch after him this time. Happy I got the guy's gun and it looks like they removed the serial number. According to Homeland there is a chemist that they might have used. I am going to swing by and pick you up." Cabe told her.

* * *

Toby and Sylvester looked around trying to help Walter determine where Daniel could be. Paige advised them that Jill said Daniel like quiet and confined places best. Sylvester walked back and stood with Walter when they heard Toby, "_Oh geniuses, is this quiet and confined enough?_"

Sylvester wheeled Walter over and they looked down into the storm drain. "I'm not going down there," Sylvester said shaking his head after looking down.

"You got to Sly," Walter looked at him as he locked the wheels on his chair. Walter pulled his coms out and the other two followed suit. "I'm not going to let something happen to Daniel, inability to move and pain be damned. Now Sly, you got to help Toby get me down there so we can follow after him."

"Walter, we're already in enough hot water with Paige and Happy. We're not helping you down there." Toby told him.

"Fine," Walter kicked up the foot rests and stood shaking and Sylvester grabbed him.

"I'll help you Walter," Sylvester told him.

Walter smiled at the gentle giant.

"Great, now you got me feeling guilty. Oh hell, I'll help you too. But we're taking your chair with us." Toby complained.

* * *

It took a little work but they got Walter down and then his chair and they put their coms back in after they quit breathing so hard. They began walking down the storm drain when it came to a three way split. "This is a pickle," Toby said.

"Okay, we'll each take a passage and record the sounds with our phones, we'll send the files to Paige and I will walk her through analyzing them on the computer. Then Daniel's Mom can listen and tell us the most probable way he went." Walter told them.

"That's assuming he came down here," Toby told him.

Walter looked down, "What's that?"

Toby bent down and picked up noise cancellation headphones, "You were saying?" Walter grinned at Toby.

Daniel's Mom finally recommended the whooshing sound of Toby's tunnel and so they hurriedly made their way down to where it ended. They managed to get Walter and his chair out of the storm drain and ended up at the Montague's brewery.

* * *

They looked inside of the warehouse they were standing by and saw Daniel walking around an open grain bin. They hurried inside as quickly as they could only to stop as one of the criminals showed up by Daniel. Grabbing Daniel's backpack he pushed Daniel into the grain bin so he could escape. Toby and Sylvester ran up the stairs as fast as they could as Walter struggled to get out of his chair grabbing hold of the railing he pulled himself up the stairs following after them.

"Oh no, he's getting pulled under." Toby grabbed the sides of his hat.

"One of us will have to go down after him." Walter said.

"Walter no," Paige yelled.

"Love, it has to be me, Sylvester is too heavy for us to get back out of there and if Daniel is hurt Toby has to be fresh enough to treat him." Walter told her as Sylvester grabbed a couple of beer kegs and Toby grabbed a rope.

"Walter, you could be seriously hurt, you could be paralyzed." Paige told him.

Walter stood still holding the railing as Toby ran the rope around his waist and down between both legs before bring it up and looping it around his shoulders and chest. "Love, you give me the strength to try. It's the only way to save Daniel. But it's your call, what do you want me to do?" Walter asked.

Paige knew he was right, there was no other way. "Please be careful baby," she said in a small voice.

Toby cinched him up quickly with the rope using the rope to try and support his back as best he could. "Okay, you got thirty seconds," they lowered him down as he touched the grain, "Nineteen seconds," and they watched as Walter was pulled under the grain.

"Time's up, okay Sly, dropped the kegs." Toby told him.

"What if he doesn't have him?" Sylvester asked.

"Sly, just do it, now. He's out of time." Toby told him.

Sylvester pushed the kegs and they dropped and nothing happened. "Son of a bee sting," Sylvester exclaimed and climbed over the railing and jumped. As he grabbed the rope he landed on top of the kegs with his butt and the extra weight pulled Walter and Daniel out of the grain.

Daniel was coughing and Walter was crying out in pain. "Walter," Paige cried.

* * *

Paige sat in the emergency room with Walter as he was once again drugged this time with Demerol. "Ms Dineen?" A Dr asked as he stepped into the small room.

Paige stood instantly, "I'm Paige Dineen."

The Dr smiled, "Paige, looking over the x-rays and Mr. O'Brien's previous records I'm happy to say that while he's severely re-strained his back and neck muscles he hasn't caused any further medical issues. His spine and spinal cord are intact and there are no internal injuries. I would recommend in addition to on going physical rehab he might seek out a Chiropractor to help keep his back aligned while his muscles heal. I am also putting him on full restrictive activity. If his employer can, he may work two hours a day if it is a desk job. But no more, he should alternate between bed rest and sitting up every two hours max."

Paige nodded, "He's self employed but he does have contract work with Homeland."

The Dr. nodded, "Well limited physical activity, nothing strenuous, he shouldn't lift anything at all, it'll be enough of a struggle to move himself. It'll probably take about another twenty minutes and his discharge paperwork will be ready. I wish you luck."

"Thank you Dr," Paige told him as she sat back down and looked at Walter lying on the bed. She reached up and took his hand, "Oh Walter, my hero, you got to start taking better care of yourself, I need you."

Walter's head nodded as if in response.

"Walter O'Brien's room, where is it?" Paige heard Cabe say.

"Cabe, we're in here." Paige said aloud.

Cabe rushed through the doorway and looked at Paige and then over at Walter, Paige saw tears in his eyes. "He's okay Cabe, other than re-injuring the same muscles." Paige told him as she stood up and hugged him.

"Sorry it took so long to get here. Happy and I found out that those men were trying to assassinate Diaz." Cabe told her. "Barely stopped them, at the last moment Happy was able to stop the smart bullet with a billboard truck of Diaz."

_"Something tells me I'm not going to like smart bullets once they're explained to me."_ Paige told him.

_"Good assumption,"_ Happy said as she stepped into the room.


End file.
